This invention relates to a device that can be worn or carried by an individual, and is capable of detecting air-borne hazardous chemicals such as hydrazine, at extremely low concentrations.
Hydrazine is a colorless, fuming hygroscopic liquid that is miscible with alcohol and water. A strong reducing agent, it is highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation and skin absorption and is a strong irritant to skin and eyes. In addition to being a carcinogen, it poses a severe explosion hazard when exposed to heat or flame or by reaction with oxidizing materials. For these reasons its recommended tolerance in air is on the order of 100 parts per billion (ppb).
Hydrazine has a multitude of uses, most notably in rocket fuels, agricultural chemicals, drugs, metal and glass plating, fuel cells, solder flux, explosives, photographic developers and as a corrosion inhibitor in water-cooled nuclear power plants. Because of this wide range of product uses and its deadly nature, it is of paramount importance to carefully monitor for the presence of hydrazine in those places where hydrazine may be present in the air due to leakage, spillage, or other means.